October 19, 2010 My third stop on Saturday’s Garden Conservancy tour took me to the elegant, hilltop garden overlooking downtown Austin. Surrounding a New Orleans-style Pemberton Heights home and shaded by majestic live oaks, the garden felt lush, green, and classically serene. Pictured above, a cut-stone path edged in dwarf …

October 18, 2010 There was plenty of Patch magic to go around during the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour last Saturday. Designer Philip Leveridge, who blogs about his garden at East Side Patch, his wife Leah, and their two young children seem to derive much enjoyment from their enticing, lawn-free …

October 18, 2010 I’m delighted to announce that I’m guest posting today on At Home in the Garden, the garden blog of MarthaStewart.com. I hope you’ll take the time to check it out. My thanks to garden editor Stacey Hirvela for inviting me to contribute a regional report. And if …

October 18, 2010 I’m delighted to announce that I’m guest posting today on At Home in the Garden, the garden blog of MarthaStewart.com. I hope you’ll take the time to check it out. My thanks to garden editor Stacey Hirvela for inviting me to contribute a regional report. And if …

October 17, 2010 ‘Sharkskin’ agave and ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave at the Utility Research Garden The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Austin tour was held yesterday, with 6 private gardens open to the public. My first stop was the ambiguously named Utility Research Garden, which I imagined to be an experimental garden …

October 16, 2010 I hope you’ll join me today for Foliage Follow-Up, the day after Bloom Day when we celebrate leaves, bark, seedheads, etc.—plant characteristics often overlooked in favor of flowers. Share your favorite foliage for October, and then leave a link here in the comments so we can find …

October 15, 2010 At Lake Austin Spa on Wednesday, my guide, head gardener Trisha Shirey, showed me an interesting plant she’s growing in the vegetable garden—cotton! Related to the hibiscus, she explained, its flower opens white and soon fades to a soft pink. When the flowers drop, seedpods called bolls …

October 15, 2010 At Lake Austin Spa on Wednesday, my guide, head gardener Trisha Shirey, showed me an interesting plant she’s growing in the vegetable garden—cotton! Related to the hibiscus, she explained, its flower opens white and soon fades to a soft pink. When the flowers drop, seedpods called bolls …

October 14, 2010 Yesterday the Director of Flora & Fauna at Lake Austin Spa, the talented Trisha Shirey, gave me an early morning tour of the spa’s gardens, which she has tended for more than 26 years. A staff of nine full-time gardeners assists her in organically maintaining and updating …

October 11, 2010 Afternoon is the golden time in my garden. Morning light only briefly touches it. Agaves, yuccas, bamboos, and grasses are clustered on the west end of my garden because it gets the most sun, and they look illuminated from within as the setting sun shines through their …

October 10, 2010 Like Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection, this tardy oxblood lily (Rhodophiala bifida) seems to be admiring itself in the blue gazing ball. Oh, it’s lovely but so vain! Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) is in full bloom in the hillside garden. The stock-tank pond …

October 09, 2010 A toy dump truck has to be the most unusual planter I’ve ever seen, and this golden barrel cactus looks right at home in it. I spotted this playful combo parked on the front lawn of an Allandale home yesterday. Towering on either side of it were …

October 05, 2010 ‘Twinkle Pink’ cuphea October’s cooler, less-humid weather signals the beginning of the second big gardening season in central Texas. At independent nurseries and plant sales, the aisles are packed with tempting new arrivals. And even though it can be hard to tear oneself away from one’s own …

October 04, 2010 A glowing chandelier of dangling flowers seems to hang over my biggest softleaf yucca (Y. recurvifolia) at dusk. The creamy white bells are at peak bloom. This is the second bloom spike this growing season; the other occurred in early summer. Two other softleaf yuccas, planted more …